PAULA BELINA

FUN IS FREE PRESS zine distro is now here: http://www.funisfreepress.blogspot.com/

>>both my sites are presently under construction<<

this blog was last updated: July 9th/09

next events:

**BE THIRSTY HEART spoken poetry & zine tour**

Paula will be touring across Canada & the States until September 2009

UPCOMING EVENTS:
August 22nd, 09: All day ZINE FAIR followed by poetry jam at Burrittoville, 2055 Bishop st., Montreal, Quebec.
August 23rd, 09: Poetry performance for Wired on Words event at Le Cagibi, Montreal, Quebec.
August 28th.09: London Story Slam #4, theme "nothing to see here". East Village Coffeehouse, London, Ontario.
August 29th.09: Clowning workshops at EVAC, London, Ontario.
September 4th.09: Hang-out at Turning the Tide radical bookstore, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
September 12th&13th.09: Table at the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, Victoria, BC, Coast Salish Territory.

visit the map for the February-June 2009 part of the tour: http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=101038188155917509137.00046ce1cd5b7cb37fef1&ie=UTF8&ll=47.989922,-94.394531&spn=55.265744,91.757812&z=3

The November 2008 mini-leg of the tour was: Portland, OR, Vancouver, BC., Victoria, BC

The September leg of the tour was: Montreal, QC, Ottawa, ON, Victoria, BC, & Vancouver, BC

news:

My STAMP-CARVED POSTER for the Anarchist Cabaret was included in the new book from Cumulus Press about political posters from Quebec called "Picture This". Check out: http://www.cumuluspress.com/picturethis

Clown Stunts

>> pictures from Thirsty Heart tour October 2008-June 2009 will be uploaded soon!<<
Barn Owl poetry performance, December '08, Linden Street House, Victoria, BC


Babayaga Tea Ceremony, October '08, Pages Books&Cafe, Montreal QC.

Check out this video of clown-me at the Montreal Infringement Festival mini-parade, June 2008. I'm the one with the whistle and the bike....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4jKEyiSt2k This is a photo of me in my new dance studio, located on Rene-Levesque and St-Laurent street in Montreal. I did a wee dance busk this past May 2008 wearing a mask my friend Lillian had given me.


This is a picture of me after finishing the public stunt which capped off leading my first full clowning workshop at Camas Infoshop in Victoria in February 2008. To get a write up of what went on, check out this great blog entry by one of the participants: http://canadian-writers-collective.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

I had the unforgettable gig of clowning at a women's shelter in downtown Montreal in August 2008. I helped serve soup, entertained the staff and painted many of the women's faces, not to mention chased a ball of string up and down stairs and through the whole building!

I was asked to host the Montreal Anarchist Cabaret in May 2007 and it seemed that my sock puppet and pinata were fine props for such a job. It was an amazing night, I danced with the marching band, played in a friendly moshpit, hosted and performed some spoken-clown poetry.

Here I am wearing my wonderful bright orange raincoat after I spent my first day as a clown on the streets of St-Henri, Montreal. This was "Paisley Penelope". May 2006. The best clown 'turn' I had was when I happily discovered a pile of broken chairs and proceeded to swim upon them as well as set them up on the side of the busy street pretending it was my little broken-chair-automobile.

This image is of the face paint I did on myself for the Lip Zine launch in February 2007 in Montreal at the Friendship Cove. It was the first time I ever painted my face for a spoken word performance, it was a delightful combination.

Though I look wrather bold and confident, this character, which I named "Miss Yella" was very shy and reserved. I travelled the metro by myself for an hour, sitting with a yellow lego man who was the only thing I wasn't scared to interact with. I used chalk on the metro and surrounded my chair with designs. It was great being a shy clown, though by the time I emerged onto St-Denis street I was ready to dance, smile, even had a wonderful exchange with the garbage truck driver. Summer 2006.

Current Initiatives

FUN IS FREE PRESS ZINE LEND

The ZINE LEND includes membership cards, a zine donating area, sections, featured artists, 'zine of the month', and, since each zine has a blockprinted sticker code number, a member just has to write their name down in the log book with the code number and they can keep the zine for 2 weeks. Good times!
The Fun is Free Press ZINE LEND has lived at these locations:
May-June 2008: ChausHaus, Pointe-St-Charles, Montreal, Quebec
July-October 2008: The House for Creative Supports, St-Henri, Montreal, Quebec
December-January 2009: The Point Street House, Victoria, BC






THE OLD EAST LONDON BROKEN FURNITURE SWIM MEET: radical surrealist playgroup

LONDON STORY SLAM

hosted by Paula Belina at the East Village Coffeehouse, 785 Dundas st., London, Ontario. Storytellers have a maximum time limit of 5 minutes, must be an original story, no use of props. There are 2 rounds, the second round sees the 2 with the highest scores compete in an improv round on a topic written by the audience members before hand. The topics touch the theme.

upcoming: August 9th, 09. Theme: "Nothing to see here".

June 2009. Theme: soul food/impossible. winner: Antonio
April 2009. Theme: economic "crisis". winner: John
March 2009. Theme: hygiene. winner: Amy Gilbert

AUTOMATON TEA MODULE

The Automaton Tea Module performs, choreographs and serves tea in non-traditional ceremony for many kinds of events. Including, but much more than poetry, costumes & hot liquid. contact automaton Paula at funisfreepress@gmail.com to book the module or to find out more.

The first event was held on June 14th/08 as part of our Infringment Festival event "Poetic Tea&Jam". Costumed automatons Cassandra and I performed our poetry then served tea to a crowd of about 25 people, taking 4 minutes to serve "in silence with optional humming" as well as timed 1-minute-each for each of those in attendance to speak, share/display their mood& energy.

The second tea ceremony saw me, poets, Larissa Diakiw and Kyra Shaughnessy dress up as Babayagas (scary-witch-grandmas from slavic tradition) and sit to have tea-counsel before a poetry event at Pages books&cafe in Montreal in October 2008. For photos of this, see the "clown stunts" section.

The third ceremony kicked off me & west coast artist, Tempest's poetry tour on Denman Island in BC, Coast Salish Territory. It was held in Ron Sakolsky and Sheila Nopper's home February 23rd/09 and was dedicated to our emotional selves. I had thick clown tears painted down my face as I quietly served tea to about 15 people in "silence with optional humming". Following the ceremony me & Tempest performed our poetry to then proceed to open a one-minute space for each person to open up into. It was absolutely amazing and beautiful what people shared haven been acknowledged for their emotional presence. Photos to be uploaded shortly.

July 1st/09. Automaton Matt moved into the Empowerment Centre (London, Ontario) with bags of tea, knowledge of tea, tea pot, tea spirit. I was ready to have ceremonies immediately, and the moment came when, at a party, a few were motivated to make a 'Fake'. A 'Fake' is a box of cake mix with ingredients that are inhumane to consume! This box of 'Super Moist- pecan flavor' Fake had been found in a hat dumpster nead Guelf, Ontario and brought back to the house with about 7 more boxes of fake. Our ceremony saw 4 of us wear the Fake box as a hat and do monologues about issues relating to Fake eating, freeganism, sugar. Before feasting, after tea ceremony (we stood in a circle around a stool which held the pot of tea), a few more people from the party joined us- i beatboxed as one person freestyled a rap including all the ingredients listed on the Fake box, and we riffed off lyrics about sugar and artificial foods. ..needlesstosay we all felt somewhat ill after eating it, despite bringing all the soul we could.

My Workshops

DRAWING YOUR INSIDES OUT: doodling & facepaint for radical mental health
(safe space* for adults)

The experiment is about landing into your body & drawing it out with drawing, doodles, shaking, laughing, movement, scribbling. Introduce yourself to your own insides by the ritual and surprise of doodling to then translate your impressions onto your face. Masks and masks, love your masks and masks, greet your masks as you unwind into spontaneous imaginative play. true! & fun! Woven through the workshop, and ending with a full dialogue, is the concept of radical mental health.

this workshop has been held at:
>Jan.'09. Linden Street community in Action event. Victoria, BC

>Feb.14,'09. House party in Calgary, AB.

> March 8th, '09. The Garfield House, Portland, OR. During "The Mad space beneath the stars" weekly radical mental health gathering.

>Katimavik: Woodstock, ON, London, ON, Strathroy, ON. March & April 2009

> EVAC dayfair with Amara, London, ON. April 18, 2009

WHAT THE?! anarcho-surrealist game playing
NEW! (safe space* for adults)

Identifying as an anarcho-surrealist i will explain a bit of how the label speaks in my world as an artist interested in engaging in reality and activism. Always rejecting art making as commodity fabricating, novelty, distraction, or decoration, but never negating the creative impulse in lieu of "the cause". How does imagination and creativity stimulate our struggles and help us to engage and not escape? We will play some games that are both direct and imaginative and will end with a situationalist "derive" stroll experiment and intro to parkour- a technique of navigating the city as if it were an obstacle course and you were an outlaw.

LIBERATE THE MARVELOUS part 1 workshop intro to clowning and improv
(safe space* for adults)

No thinking required! Games, laughter choir, and if all are interested, it will end with a public stunt. Phobias please note: no *actual* clowns will be present. This workshop is a basic into to clowning and improv games, learn the useful skills of being able to make fun of yourself and being spontaneous and imaginative. This is not learning, but remembering how to play as a natural aspect of your personality. Feels like you're drunk, but your not! Feels like you are a silly freaky kid, but you are! If all goes well, this workshop will end with a mini public stunt.

to date this workshop has been held at:
>The 2nd Annual Victoria Anarchist Bookfair
>Fun is Free Press distro launch at Camas infoshop in Victoria, January 2008

>Co-op La Maison Verte in Montreal, summer 2008

> 2x with Katimavik groups in London & Woodstock, Ontario. March 28, April 21 2009

>Calgary Anarchist Bookfair, Calgary Alberta, April 25, 2009

LIBERATE THE MARVELOUS part 2

Getting into clowning costume & character.
(safe space* for adults)

Face paint, costumes, characters, improv games and "clown turns." Come and expand the range in which you experience your personality! Phobias note: there will be many clowns! This workshop talks a little more about how clowns play, learn and experiment. In clowning there is no distance from the audience, and clowns learn how to engage with others as oppose to merely "entertain". There is much use of instinct, spontaneous imagination, thinking on the spot, being receptive to others, making people laugh, being absurd and surreal. If all goes well, this workshop will end with a mini public stunt.

to date this workshop has been held at:

>Co-Op la Maison Verte, Montreal. Summer 2008

BLOCK TRAFFIC: blockprints and political image making

Block Traffic! is organized into three parts beginning with an historical look at how relief printing techniques like linocut and woodcuts have been used by political artists to create powerful posters and graphics depicting struggles and resistance against oppressive forces. The second part will focus on up to three (depending on the time) artists and their story, including Kathe Kollwitz, Elizabeth Catlett, Jose Guadalupe Posada, Leopoldo Mendez, Eric Drooker, Rini Templeton, and Carlos Cortez- in this section people will be asked to relay how they feel about the blockprint aesthetic- is it an effective medium to convey political issues and emotions? Why has the woodcut aesthetic been connected to political image making for so long? We will look through the works of the artists to answer these kinds of questions. The last part will involve discussion and hands-on play with rubber stamp carving, connecting the craft with the participants' own zine, poster project, or their personal experience. Questions about personal-political symbolism will open the discussion and inquiry into what symbols are relevant to their struggle. Are there universal symbols? The fist? the chain? What do we want to depict? and how? How do we create poignant images which communicate without words, which inspire or shock people, make them react, feel and learn?.
To date this workshop has been held at:
>The 8th Annual Montreal Anarchist Bookfair on May 19th 2007
>Ottawa's Ravenswing Outdoor D.I.Y. Fair at Minto Park on May 26th 2007
>Montreal Infringement Festival on June 23rd 2007
>The 2nd Annual Victoria Anarchist Bookfair on September 9th 2007
see the 'fun is free press' for updated workshop/event listings.

MAKE IMPACT HAPPEN! Actualizing Radical Projects

(safe space* for adults)

Prepare to talk about your projects, we will ask each other questions.How do our anarchist, anti-capitalist values inform how we make our projects happen? Art is cheap! Fuck federal grants! How do we stay dedicated & uncompromising in our vision? We will make a list of these values and discuss wholeheartedly. The core of this workshop is rooted in the concept of radical self-acceptance. We will end with experiments in interviewing each other.

I will share details aboutprojects I have actualized, including The St-Henri (neighborhood inMontreal) Walking Distance Zine Delivery Service, The Fun is FreePress Distro & ZINE LEND Library, The Workshop BEE, The StreeteatersMonthly Artist Market as well as stories about realizing D.I.Y.workshops, 2 D.I.Y.cross-Kanaduh tours, events, flyer making, zine distributing etc. Yes! facilitated by Paula Belina, Fun is FreePress, Montreal, Quebec-

this workshop has been held at:

> Sept.'08 The Victoria Anarchist Bookfair, Victoria, BC.

CUT UP TAPE DOWN
intro to zine culture & creating
(safe space* for adults)

Paula will talk about her 11 year connection with zines including her 6 year monthly zine, zine distro, zine delivery service, and zine lending library. What the hell is a zine? There will be some talk about the underground movement, its history and connection with poetry, collage, comix, politics of anarchists, feminists, musicians, mothers, teenagers. There are zines which feature things from recipes to punk bands, from do-it-yourself (DIY) gynecology to herbs to train hopping journals. The topics can and have been limitless. Paula will detail how to basically organize, copy and distribute a zine of your own but since the workshop is only an hour (unless there is a demand for a DIY hands on workshop) we will split into small random groups and make mini simulation zines to present. good times!

*SAFE SPACE
Because Paula has worked in radical, activist settings, there is a component of "safe space". There is never a point where anyone has to do anything they are not comfortable with, that includes touch and noises. If at any point someone feels uncomfortable or threatened, the priority is to attend to that reality. Playing when you are an adult isn't just "pure fun", it can be difficult and confusing. There is always space for that,and the workshop is run to be able to include at any time any concerns or difficulties anyone has. The second aspect of "safe space" is that there is no tolerance for language or behavior which is oppressive to anyone, that includes language and remarks that may be felt as sexist, racism, homophobic, transphobic, ableist or offensive to any group or person. All participants help maintain this component, and it becomes as relevant as the group needs it.

On Tour & Upcoming Events

*currently* BE THIRSTY HEART

solo tour. Montreal, Ottawa, New York, Portland, Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, London, ON, Victoria, Vancouver, Hornby & Denman Island, Toronto. October 2008-September 2009.

SEPTEMBER SHAPESHIFT

with poets Kyra Shaughnessy and Lisa Hoffman. Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, Cambridge, Kitchener, Toronto, Lethbridge, Edmonton, Kelowna, Vancouver, Victoria. September 2006.

SOLO MOMMA TOUR

Solo. Montreal, New York, Portland, Victoria. November 2005.

THE FOURTY POUNDS OF FINELY GROUND WEST BOUND PAPER MOUNDS TOUR

with poets CT Staples, Francesca Manning and Virgil Addison. Montreal, Ottawa, Lethbridge, Red Deer, Victoria. Summer 2004

Here is my newest hand drawn poster. Made for the Anarchist Cabaret fundraiser for the 9th edition of the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair, May 2008. woohoo!

Above is a completely hand-drawn poster I created for an event held in honor of Harriet Nahanee's 1st anniversary of death which featured some amazing speakers. Held at Camas Bookstore, March 1-2008, Victoria, BC, Coast Salish Territory.

The above stamp carving is the poster I created for benefit cabaret show for the 8th annual Anarchist Bookfair in Montreal this past May 2007. It is the largest stamp carving work I have made to date. Recently this poster was included in the new book from Cumulus Press about political posters from Quebec, "Picture This"! visit: http://www.cumuluspress.com/picturethis

Past Initiatives

THE ST-HENRI WALKING DISTANCE DISTRO

zine delivery service

Having regularly made our own zines for the past several years, Sarah Mangle (Squirrel Grrl) and I (Streeteaters) joined creative and organizational forces in February 2006, combining our mutual love for our neighborhood, Montreal's "St-Henri", to split the task of collecting addresses, gathering zines, organizing the fundraiser, and making the monthly phone calls to get details for the newsletter.
The St-Henri Walking Distance Distro collects zines from people in St-Henri and then delivers them for free to people in St-Henri. The first neighborhood zine delivery in February 2006 served 25 households 5 locally made zines and a newsletter (by August the number of households on our route had risen to 43!). There are fundraisers held every month to strengthen neighborhood connections and to raise money to pay back the zine makers at their cost (ranging from $0-$90 so far). There is also a in-package newsletter, and households are called every month to see if they want to put anything in the newsletter (a show, a sublet, a 'giving away').
There is no way it could work without the support of other people. People can help by doing the walking delivery itself, by making the flyer for the fundraiser, by performing at the fundraiser, by sending zines our way. It is a lot of work, but it has a lot of rewards. Since its birth as a monthly service in January, the households have doubled and I got to meet countless new neighbors who added to how interesting the project became.

Paula & Sarah successfully ran the distro, collecting and distributing dozens of zines to and from the neighborhood, from February until August 2006.
mention in Broken Pencil Magazine #31: http://www.brokenpencil.com/features/feature.php?featureid=89

We are happy to tell you that The Distro has been adopted and is now run by a collective who started up the monthly deliveries again this February 2007! Horray!
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THE WORKSHOP BEE (RIP)

"Immediatism" was the first title I read by Hakim Bey, available through AK Press or by searching the web as almost all his essays are posted. You must read for yourself, I considered many of the ideas from that essay as well as the notion of the Temporary Autonomous Zone (T.A.Z) and started the Workshop Bee inspired by it. I held this following quote with me for a while: "To be "too busy" for the Immediatist project is to miss the very essence of Immediatism. To struggle to come together every Monday night (or whatever), in the teeth of the gale of busyness, or family, or invitations to stupid parties-- that struggle is already Immediatism itself. Succeed in actual physically meeting face-to-face with a group which is not your spouse-&-kids, or the "guys from my job", or your 12-step program- & you have already achieved virtually everything Immediatism yearns for. An actual project will arise almost spontaneously out of this successful slap-in-the-face of the social norm of alienated boredom. Outwardly, of course, the project will seem to be the group's purpose, its motive for coming together-- but in fact the opposite is true. We're not kidding or indulging in hyperbole when we insist meeting face-to-face is already "the revolution"".
The Workshop Bee was held every Sunday for a period of 3 months summer-to-fall 2005 at Cafe TocToc in Montreal's Mile-End neighborhood. It was a regular space which I hosted which was held open for discussions, art making, support, and a place for others to work on their own projects with company. Each time you showed up, your "Bee Card" was stamped and once it was filled up, you could get $7 food credit at TocToc.
I would have a theme activity for each week (from stenciling, to mosaic, to preparing for the Anarchist Bookfair) that people could join in with if they wanted- though, most people came together over discussion&debate about personal art&politics. We would also do informal writing workshops. Attendance would go from just-me to about 7 people at a time, but most often is was 2-3 people because most were "too busy".
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STREETEATERS ARTIST MARKET
AT ZEKE'S GALLERY (RIP)

Above are 4 of the flyers I pieced together during the year or so (circa 2004) during which I ran and hosted the Artist Market at Zeke's Gallery. The mandate for the monthly event, written by several vendors and I, went as follows: "The Streeteaters Artist Market at Zeke's is run to promote hand-crafted works and do-it-yourself publishing in a friendly, interactive and inclusive environment which serves to encourage others to contribute, support, and learn new things. Jewelery, zines, chapbooks, clothing, prints, collage, CDs, tapes, couches to come hang out on....come see the gallery!"

There was a steady crew of about 5 of us, including La Puce a L'agonie, Chris Dyer, Amber Goodwyn, Kim Kielhofner, and Kashi. Although we had a rotating space which would change every month- we would invite different artists to sell and display their d.i.y works.

to view a listing of the past workshops, performances and events I have been a part of from 2007 until present, please visit: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhhpw43r_0gh3dvfg7

September 2008: I coordinated an in-store gallery, the LOOK.UP Gallery/Galerie LEVE.L`OEIL at the Co-Op la Maison Verte, 5785 Sherbrooke O., in Montreal. Monthly, rotating, local artists & artwook.

MOVES ON ROOFTOPS spoken poetry series hosted by Paula Belina

Sept 08: Paula's tour launch with Kyra & Larissa Diakiw. Babayaga themed/costume tea 7pm, show 9pm. at Pages Books&Cafe

June 08: Kyra Shaughnessy & Allan Andre (NYC) at Pages Books&Cafe

May 08: Virgil Addison, Paula Belina, Larissa Andrusyshyn & Hitchiking Victoria poets, Ghosts of the Highway (Jeff Andrews & Shayne avec i grec) at Pages Books&Cafe

>>Moves on Rooftops continues May 2009 in Montreal<<

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HandDrawn Posters & Blockprints

...under construction...

Collage & Mural work

My collage work

This is the first paid mural that I designed and completed for Aux Vivres vegan restaurant in Montreal.

This was a paid mural I made and designed to be the storefront for a junk/antique store on Notre-Dame street in Montreal. Summer 2006. It was painted with acrylic paints and finished in one day.

This is 1 out of 4 paid murals I made for Uprising Breads Bakery in Vancouver BC between November and May 2007. They are all painted on blackboard with tempura paints and the size is approximately 4feet by 7feet. #1 This was my last mural for the bakery, made in late April 2007. The boss requested "lots of flowers, no black parts showing, and with some text" for this mural which was to hang in the store for spring and summer.

#2 For this one the boss wanted "a big heart and flowers" to hang in the store as part of Valentine's day and early spring.

This is a mural I made as a thank-you on the kitchen wall of "The Farm House" in Vancouver after the residents let me stay there for a few weeks. It is an original design, painted with tempura paints, and about threefeet by twofeet. October 2006.

This is a giant replica of the painter, Marc Chagall's work "The Blue Circus". I made this on the wall of my living room using a rough grid and a tiny photo of the piece. Little by little I copied the painting onto the wall with acrylic paints, it was roughly 7feet by 11feet.

Paula Belina's Bio

Paula Belina has been performing poetry in Montreal since 1998 connected to various spoken word series such as Wired on Words at the Casa, Cat Call, Coco Cafe, Wednesday's Child, Devil's Voice, and more, printing off dozens of chapbooks and 39 issues of her monthly comp-lit-cut&paste zine, Streeteaters, to date. She has won a few slams, has quietly read off typed paper, has collaborated with beatboxers, has begun to dance to her own poems, show up in facepaint. Paula finished her second tour across Canada in September 2006 and made a home in Vancouver for a year studying clowning and theatre improv. She has attended the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics (at Naropa University, Boulder, CO) and has performed in Boulder, Denver, New York, Portland, Toronto, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria, London, ON, Calgary, Hornby & Denman Island as well as been a part of the Voix D'Amerique spoken word festival in Montreal since 2003.
In 2006, "Paint a City Coat on You, my Wall" was launched as her first full length spoken word CD --of which there is a second satellite 5-track CD called "EdgeofThings" which features 5 poems of Paula's accompanied by Alden Penner--.Her first video will be ready soon featuring one of those collaborative pieces, filmed and edited by Christ Hernandez.

The 'City Coat' CD compiles her favorite works since '98, dedicated to Montreal pea-tree, you can dance to track 10 which features Nick Soden's freestyled beatbox mayhem.
Along with being a spoken word poet and a lifelong d.i.y publishing advocate, Paula is a stamp-carver, painter & radical clown and has begun hosting workshops. She has also worked with Batshaw Services and the Quebec Writers Federation in Montreal facilitating writing workshops with adolescents and Katimavik organization in Ontario. She mostly enjoys hosting workshops in radical settings and has so at Anarchist Bookfairs in Calgary, Victoria and Montreal. For more information email: funisfreepress@gmail.com

Paula has regularly brought her work to the Anarchist Bookfair in Montreal, the Ottawa Small Press Fair, Ravenswing D.I.Y. Fair, Expozine, Canzine, and the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair in September 2007, 08.